Car-brake adjuster



1) ZSheets-Sheet 1.

A. E. MANCHESTER 82: J. U. MILLER.

GA STER R BRAKE ADJU -No Mode No. 463,907. Patented Nov. 24, 1891.

WITNESSES VENTORS; Mw%@/ (No Model.) 2 Shets-Sheet 2.

A. E. MANCHESTER 8v J. U. MILLER.

I GAB. BRAKE ADJUSTER, 2N0. 463,907.

Patented Nov. 24, 1891.

viii! lflm rfi'r I m5 a/f/zzzez A we K 7 Attarney "1' E" wimuii Elli! NrrEn STATES PATENT I 11 Brien.

ALBERT E. MANCHESTER AND moon 0. MILLER, or DUBUQUE, IOWA.

CAR-BRAKE ADJUSTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 463,907, dated November 24, 1891.

Application filed February 10, 1891. Serial No. 380,930. (No model- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ALBERT E. MANCHES- TER and JACOB C. MILLER, citizens of the United States, residing at Dubuque, in the county of Dubuque and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Brake Adjusters; and we do hereby declare the followingto be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to various new and useful improvements in attachments for airbrakes, whereby the wear on the brake-shoes will be automatically taken up, and the parts will always remain in the best operative position. It should be understood, however, that our invention may be applied to other varieties of brakes besides air-brakes.

The principal object of the invention is to provide means whereby all the parts will be automatically adjusted to thebest operative position and whereby all wear on the brakeshoes :will be automatically taken up, and, further, in placing the device in a position where it will be removed as far as possible from those parts of the brake attachments most liable to suffer damage in wreck, derailment, or by striking objects in or near the track.

Another object is to so equip the brakes of a car that the brake attachments upon one truck may be destroyed and the brake upon the other truck still continue to work the same as though the entire brakes upon the car were in working order and still not increase the braking power which will be exerted upon the truck, which'is in working order, beyond its normal braking power on account of its acting upon one truck at a time.

To this end the invention consists, generally, of the various combination of elements to be hereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a plan View of the preferable form of the device Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a plan view of a modification thereof; Fig. at, a side'elevation of the same; Fig. 5, an end elevation of the same, and Fig. 6 a diagrammatic View showing the arrangement of the levers in connection with the first form of device.

In all the above views corresponding parts are designated by identical letters of reference.

The preferable form of the levers and connection is that shown in Fig. 6, wherein A represents the air-brake cylinder and auxiliary reservoir, B the piston-rod thereof, 0 O the floating or live levers, D D the dead-levers, E E the brake-levers, and F F the various connecting-rods.

It has been found in practice that there is considerable wear on the brake-shoes, so that if this wear were not compensated for in some way the throw of the piston-rod B would be gradually increased until at last its limit of movement would be reached without effectively applying the brakes. Heretofore the wear on the brake-shoes has been taken up generally by means of turn-buckles on one or more of the connecting-rods F, which had to be operated by workmen beneath the car. lVe are aware, however, that prior to our invention various automatic adjusters have been designed; but owing to their complicated construction and their liability to become clogged or broken these automatic adjusters have never gone into extensive public use.

The preferable form of our invention, when used in connection with the arrangement of levers and connections shown in Fig. 6, is secured to one of the frames of each truck, as at G. It consists, generally, of a right-angled plate a, bolted or screwed to the truck-frame and provided with the extension 5 at one side. The extension I) is provided with a turned-up projection 0, having a circular opening there in. Mounted upon the plate a,upon the axle cl, is a ratchet-wheel 6, having an integral cylindrical hub f, to which the chain g is rigidly secured. Mounted upon the frame a is a sliding piece h, having an integral shank i, which passes through the opening in the extension 0, and to the end of which the chain j is attached. The sliding piece h is adapted to be guided by the small retaining pieces or lugs 7s. The sliding piece h carries a pawl Z, which engages with the ratchet-wheel e, and is adapted to be held in such engagement by means of the small leaf-sprin g m. The ratchet-wheel e is prevented from moving backwardly by means of another pawl "/71, mounted upon the plate a and held in engagement with the ratchet-wheel e by means of the leaf-sprin g o. In operation the chain j, which connects with the sliding piece 71, is attached to the moving end of the floatingand fulcrumed lever C or to the top rod F, and the chain g, which is wound round the cylindrical hub f, is attached to the end of the dead -lever D and forms an anchor to the entire system of lovers upon one end of the car.

It will now be readily seen that by locating our device on the top of the truck-frame and making our connections with the top rod or floating or fulcrumed lever we remove it as far as possible from those parts of the brake attachments most liable to sufiier damage by wreck, derailment, or striking objects in or near the track. It will also be observed that by placing the adjuster in this place and making the connections shown, should the brake attachments upon one truck be destroyed the brake will continue to act on the other truck the same as though the entire brake upon the car was in working condition, and the braking power will not be increased upon the truck upon which the brake is operative above its normal power, for the force which would be exerted upon the damaged brake would be expended in compressing the springp beyond its normal working point. The remaining power of the piston will be distributed to the truck on which the brake is in working order.

The operation of this device will be readily understood, as follows: \Vhen the piston 13 of the air-brake is operated the end of the floating lever C will be moved in the direction of the arrow, so as to apply the brake through the intermediate system of levers and connections. As the floating lever C is moved, the chain j will be carried with it, so as to move the piece against the tension of the spiral spring p, which encircles the shank 1T. \Vhen the brake-shoes are in proper adjustment to the rim of the wheels, this movement of the ehainj will not be sufficient to move the pawl l, which is carried with the piece 72 the distance of a tooth; but, however, when the brake-shoes have become worn and the movement of the floating lever C is increased the pawl Z will be advanced to the succeeding tooth of the ratchet-wheel e, and when the brakes are released the spring 1) will force the sliding piece 71 backwardly, so as to move the ratchet-wheel e in the same direction, and thereby shorten the chain g with relation thereto. The ratchet-wheel will then beheld in this new position by means of the pawl 72, before referred to. This move ment will tend to bring the anchored end of the dead-lever D nearer to its respective truck, and in this way the brake-shoes will be advanced toward each other. The brake will then be operated in this new position until the brake-shoes have become worn enough to allow the pawl Z to advance the distance of another tooth, when the position of the deadlever I.) will be again changed. It will be evident that this automatic adj ustcr may also be used in connection with any other powerbrake. The modification of the preferable form of device will now be described.

G represents one of the brake-beams. Secured to this brake-beam in any suitable way are two horizontal guide-irons 1 I, upon which slide the cross-head J which carries the operative parts. q represents the ratchet-wheel, which is horizontally mounted upon the crosshead J and which is provided with a cylindrical hub 0, around which is wound the chain 8, which connects with the brake-beam. The cross-head J is provided with two integral lugs 15 25, through which extends the shank u to the sliding piece 7), similar in many respects to the sliding piece h of the preferred form of our invention. This sliding piece n is provided with a small pawl 10, which engages with the ratchet-Wheel q, and which is adapted to be held in such engagement by means of the small spring The ratchetwheel q is prevented from moving backwardly by means of the pawl 3 held in engagement therewith by means of the leaf-spring K represents the brakelever, which extends obliquely through the cross-head J, as shownin Fig. 5, and which is pivoted therein by means of the pin a. The sliding piece is provided with an upwardly-extending integral lug b, with which the brake-lever K engages. The sliding piece is adapted to be held in anormally-retracted position by means of a spiral spring 0, encircling the shank a, and bearing between one of the lugs '15 and the pin ('1, which passes through the shank a. It will be understood that the lower end of the brake-lever K is anchored in the usual way and that the upper end is operated by the airbrake piston. As the brake-lever K is operated it will act as a lever 01": the second class and the brake-beam will be moved toward the wheels, so as to apply the brakes. It will be seen that as the brake-lever K operates its moving end will be advanced nearer and nearer to the vertical position with relation to the pivoting-pin a thereof, so as to move the lug b and carry with it the plate 1) against the tension of the spring 0. As the brake-shoes become worn, the movement of the brake-lever K will be increased, as will be understood, and when this movement is of such an extent as to move the sliding piece 'v the distance of atooth of the ratchet'wheel q the pawl to will engage with the next tooth, and when the brake is released the spiral spring 0, in moving the sliding piece 1) back to its original position, will carry the ratchet-wheel q the distance of atooth, and this will tend to wind the chain 8 around the cylindrical hub r, so as to slide the cross-head J nearer to the brake-beam and the brake-beam nearer to the cross-head, and to thereby take up the wear on the brake-shoes. It will be understood that the brake-lever K will then be operated until its movement is such as to advance the pawl w the space of another tooth, and the brakebeam will thereby be moved nearer to the pivoting-point on the brake-lever.

It will be understood that by means of this invention all wear of the brake-shoes will be automatically taken up and the operating-levers will always remain in the best possible position for effective action.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. A car-brake adjuster with a plate having an automatic take-up attached to the dead-lever of a power-brake, in combination with a slide attached to said plate and connected with the fulcrumed or floating lever of said brake, whereby the brake upon one truck of the car will operate when the other brake has been disabled.

2. In an automatic brake-adj uster, a plate supplied with a ratchet-wheel and cylindrical hub and chain connecting the same to the dead-lever of the brake, in combination with a spring-actuated slide supplied with a chain attached to the fulcrumed or floating lever of apower-brake, for the purposes set forth.

3. In an improved automatic adjuster for brakes, the combination of a ratchet-wheel provided with a cylindrical hub, a chain extending around the hub and connecting either directly or indirectly with the brake-beam, a sliding piece adjacent to the ratchet-wheel and having a pawlengaging with the ratchetwheel, and a springconnected with said sliding piece to hold it in a normally-retracted position, substantially as set forth.

4. In an improved automatic adjuster for brakes, the combination of the ratchet-wheel having a cylindrical hub, a chain extending around said hub and connecting either directly or indirectly with the brake-beam, the spring-actuated pawl to prevent the ratchetwheel from moving backwardly, a sliding piece adjacent to said ratchet-wheel and carryin g a pawl engaging with the ratchet-wheel, and a spiral spring for holding said sliding piece in a normally-retracted position, substantially as set forth.

ALBERT E. MANCHESTER. JACOB C. MILLER.

Witnesses:

M. M. OADY, J 0s. NEEDHAM. 

